February 12, 2017

Here's Where to Try Indo-Chinese Food

My favorite place for Chinese food right now is Little India in Artesia, not the San Gabriel Valley, Hong Kong or Taipei.

The food isn't classic Chinese but Indo-Chinese, what people in India like to eat. I love Hakka noodles, vegetables Manchurian, chilli chicken, Szechuan fried rice and whatever else turns up on the lunch buffet at Wok N Tandoor.

The buffet offers a tremendous variety of food for $12.95, not just Chinese, but Indian vegetarian and meats such as chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken and goat curry.

Dishes change from time to time, but the selection is always big and includes soups such as hot and sour and sweet corn.

It's a novelty to accompany Chinese dishes with naan bread and vegetable biryani instead of the usual white rice. Even better, compose a series of plates, first Chinese, then Indian. Or try Chinese chill chicken and scallion chicken along with tandoori chicken for a cross-cultural experience.

You could compose a fusion appetizer plate of corn chaat, khadi pakoras (in yellow sauce, above) and Chinese bhel, which is composed of crisp thin noodles in spicy sauce.

Papdi chat with garbanzo beans (the white dish in the photo) was in the lineup the other day, the sauce creamy, slightly sweet and cooling alongside the spicy dishes.

The food is promptly replaced as it disappears. Hakka noodles (Bombay style flat lo mein noodles, above) ran out because of customers like me, who scooped them up liberally, but the tray was quickly refilled.

Vegetable balls in Manchurian sauce (above) were in demand too.

The buffet ends with salad makings and a heavenly assortment of desserts, all the golden, syrup-soaked jalebis you could ever want, carrot halwa, green dudhi halwa, which is made with bottle gourd; mango pudding and others, changing from day to day.

Wok N Tandoor is very popular--every table was taken for lunch when I was last there, on a Sunday. Service is excellent. Water glasses are refilled constantly, and a waiter offered to bring naan when we didn't know it was included. Plates were removed as soon as they were finished. And you can go back to the buffet as many times as you like.

Names of the dishes are written on the glass sneeze guards, so it's easy to find out what they are.

The restaurant is in a mall at the corner of Pioneer and Artesia Boulevards. Years ago, the same site was occupied by a Woodlands vegetarian restaurant. After that it had Parsi owners who occasionally put Parsi dishes on the buffet.

Now it's a restaurant and bar. On weekends, get there early to avoid the crowds. Buffet days are Friday through Sunday, when Little India is crowded with shoppers. Tuesday through Thursday, the restaurant offers combo lunches instead. There's also a long a la carte menu of both Chinese and Indian dishes.

Comments

Here's Where to Try Indo-Chinese Food

My favorite place for Chinese food right now is Little India in Artesia, not the San Gabriel Valley, Hong Kong or Taipei.

The food isn't classic Chinese but Indo-Chinese, what people in India like to eat. I love Hakka noodles, vegetables Manchurian, chilli chicken, Szechuan fried rice and whatever else turns up on the lunch buffet at Wok N Tandoor.

The buffet offers a tremendous variety of food for $12.95, not just Chinese, but Indian vegetarian and meats such as chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken and goat curry.

Dishes change from time to time, but the selection is always big and includes soups such as hot and sour and sweet corn.

It's a novelty to accompany Chinese dishes with naan bread and vegetable biryani instead of the usual white rice. Even better, compose a series of plates, first Chinese, then Indian. Or try Chinese chill chicken and scallion chicken along with tandoori chicken for a cross-cultural experience.

You could compose a fusion appetizer plate of corn chaat, khadi pakoras (in yellow sauce, above) and Chinese bhel, which is composed of crisp thin noodles in spicy sauce.

Papdi chat with garbanzo beans (the white dish in the photo) was in the lineup the other day, the sauce creamy, slightly sweet and cooling alongside the spicy dishes.

The food is promptly replaced as it disappears. Hakka noodles (Bombay style flat lo mein noodles, above) ran out because of customers like me, who scooped them up liberally, but the tray was quickly refilled.

Vegetable balls in Manchurian sauce (above) were in demand too.

The buffet ends with salad makings and a heavenly assortment of desserts, all the golden, syrup-soaked jalebis you could ever want, carrot halwa, green dudhi halwa, which is made with bottle gourd; mango pudding and others, changing from day to day.

Wok N Tandoor is very popular--every table was taken for lunch when I was last there, on a Sunday. Service is excellent. Water glasses are refilled constantly, and a waiter offered to bring naan when we didn't know it was included. Plates were removed as soon as they were finished. And you can go back to the buffet as many times as you like.

Names of the dishes are written on the glass sneeze guards, so it's easy to find out what they are.

The restaurant is in a mall at the corner of Pioneer and Artesia Boulevards. Years ago, the same site was occupied by a Woodlands vegetarian restaurant. After that it had Parsi owners who occasionally put Parsi dishes on the buffet.

Now it's a restaurant and bar. On weekends, get there early to avoid the crowds. Buffet days are Friday through Sunday, when Little India is crowded with shoppers. Tuesday through Thursday, the restaurant offers combo lunches instead. There's also a long a la carte menu of both Chinese and Indian dishes.